Alchs Are Back – Patch 0.3.1 Made Them Useful Again (And Why I’m Stacking the Dip)

[color=#FF0000]TL;DR:[/color] The 0.3.1 update fixed the uselessness of [color=#FF0000]Orbs of Alchemy[/color] by letting them upgrade [color=#FF0000]magic items[/color] to rares with four random mods. Suddenly you can slam jewels, rings and amulets and get playable rolls in seconds instead of grinding through Transmute → Augment → Regal. Combined with the ability to alch jewels (rare jewels roll three‑to‑four affixes instead of six), it dramatically cuts crafting time. The catch? To hit targeted stats you still need expensive Essences like [color=#FF0000]Horror[/color] or [color=#FF0000]Hysteria[/color] – they guarantee specific prefixes/suffixes but their prices are exploding. The market hasn’t caught up: core currencies fell this week, yet Alchs have new utility. I’m buying while they’re cheap and using essences sparingly.

What changed in patch 0.3.1?
GGG introduced a tiered currency system in 0.3.0 that made lower‑tier orbs feel useless. As a stop‑gap, patch 0.3.1 added one simple line to the notes:

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“Alchemy Orbs can now be used on magic items.”

In other words, if you have a blue (magic) piece with two decent affixes you can now upgrade it directly to rare with four fresh affixes instead of wiping it first. Combined with existing behaviour—upgrading normal items to rare—the orb suddenly covers more bases.

Prior to this, the optimal path was to spam Orbs of Alteration/Augmentation on a magic item until you hit a good prefix/suffix, then Regal Orb it to rare. That took dozens of rolls. Now you can slam an Alch on the magic base and move on. Less clicking, less time.

Jewel crafting (and other ‘magic things’)
One of the sleeper buffs is that jewels and most magic‑only items can now be alch’d. An official guide notes that an Orb of Alchemy rolls four to six affixes on equipment, but only three to four when used on jewels. Rare jewels only have four affixes, so you can quickly turn a plain jewel into a rare with three useful mods, socket it for a power bump, and keep playing. Same goes for rings, amulets, bows, quivers and other slot items—no more farming hundreds of low‑tier orbs just to get a yellow item.

Essences: the double‑edged sword
What’s the downside? Hitting specific stats still relies on Essences. A crafting FAQ explains that an Alch rolls completely random stats, whereas an Essence does the same but guarantees one property. The Essence of [color=#FF0000]Horror[/color], for example, upgrades a normal item to a rare or reforges a rare and always adds mods like “Socketed Gems have +3.5 % critical strike chance” on gloves or “16 % chance to gain a power, frenzy or endurance charge on kill” on weapons. That power comes at a price: high‑tier Essences drop from purple Remnants and are scarce. Since patch 0.3 they’re being snapped up for late‑game crafting, so prices of [color=#FF0000]Horror[/color], [color=#FF0000]Hysteria[/color] and Abyss essences jumped 60–900 %. You can still craft insane boots, gloves or belts with them, but they’re no longer cheap. Delirium essences actually fell a bit, which shows that demand is very mod‑dependent.

In practice, my approach is:

Use Alchs liberally on good‑base jewellery, bows and quivers. You’re hunting for any combination of resist/life/damage to get you over the next hump.

Reserve Essences for endgame crafts where the guaranteed mod is crucial—like Horror on effect‑of‑socketed items boots or Hysteria on gloves for explode builds.

Flip extras: because Essences have exploded in price, selling spares can fund your Alch stash.

Market snapshot: currencies are down, utility is up
Below is a quick bar chart showing the 7‑day price change for several core currencies (using a snapshot from a popular trading site). Mirrors slipped ~20 %, Exalted Orbs ~7 %, Vaal Orbs dropped 45 %, and both Regal and Alchemy Orbs crashed ~80 %. Perfect and Greater variants also declined. The takeaway is obvious: the market is bearish on everything right now.



Volume stats reveal that Mirrors still trade thousands per hour, Exalts tens of thousands, while Alchs see modest but steady flow. With patch 0.3.1 making Alchs relevant for magic items and jewellery, this mismatch feels unsustainable. In PoE economies, items with persistent sinks and improved utility eventually appreciate, especially when supply hasn’t changed. It’s classic supply/demand: remove substitutes and add sinks, and the remaining currency rises.

Pros and cons of spamming Alchs now




Patch 0.3.1 quietly elevated Orb of Alchemy from a levelling tool to a versatile crafting and trading currency. With the new ability to slam magic items and jewels, you can churn out rare gear faster than ever. Meanwhile, the market is still pricing Alchs like they’re worthless, even as high‑tier Essences become scarce and expensive. That’s why I’m stocking up on Alchs now—craft what you need, flip the rest, and ride the inevitable correction when the community realises how good they’ve become. If you agree, stack some before the weekend; if you think Alchs will stay in the bargain bin, tell me why in the comments. Happy hunting!

stop trying to manipulate the market with your hype.

alchs are what theyve always been. an ureliable way to upgrade your gear. whether or not I have "two decent mods" dont matter. The next two will be shit 99.999% of the time when using alchs. nobody crafts using ex slamming anymore either.

you just bought a ton of them following fubgun's meme. it wont work

The OP misrepresented the situation a bit. You don't get to keep the original affixes. See patch note:

You can now use Orbs of Alchemy on Magic items. When used on Magic items the original modifiers are not retained.

So alchemy orbs are useful for things like "alch and go" on waystones where you'd rather not spend a regal+exalt to get a 4 affix rare from a 2 affix magic waystone.

It doesn't make sense to use alchemy orbs on high end crafting because you would rather use Greater or Perfect currency (augmentation, regal, and exalted).

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stop trying to manipulate the market with your hype.

alchs are what theyve always been. an ureliable way to upgrade your gear. whether or not I have "two decent mods" dont matter. The next two will be shit 99.999% of the time when using alchs. nobody crafts using ex slamming anymore either.

you just bought a ton of them following fubgun's meme. it wont work

Why this makes money (and saves mats)

Step compression: Old way to reach a 4-mod rare from a blue base was Regal (+1) then Exalt (+1)—costly and slow. Now it’s 1× Alch → fresh 4-mod rare on normal gear (and a fresh rare on magic gear). (The “4 mods on a fresh rare” is standard for an Alch on a normal base in PoE2.)
poe2db.tw

Jewels print time: Rare jewels are capped at four total affixes. One Alch can immediately land a 3–4 useful-mod rare jewel—often sellable—so you churn dozens per minute instead of babysitting alt/aug/regal/exalt cycles. (The cap is documented; the “3–4 in one click” is the practical inference from that cap.)
Путь изгнания Вики

Lower risk, faster listing: If a roll bricks, 1× Scouring wipes it back to a clean base without touching sockets/links; try again. No need for “two Scourings.”
Путь изгнания Вики

Result: Fewer clicks and cheaper inputs → more attempts/hour → more sellable yellows. That’s not manipulation—that’s sharing a repeatable efficiency edge.

if alchs were removed from the game it would change nothing

they are trying to make them useful (they tricked you, that's for sure)

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tdonov5#2743 เขียน:

if alchs were removed from the game it would change nothing

they are trying to make them useful (they tricked you, that's for sure)

Here’s my reality, not hype:

Sold (T14 Waystones, magic → Alch → list):
Sold: Vortex Determination Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Grim Crosscut Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Cyclopean Crosscut Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Torture Progression Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Profane Gambit Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Graven Progression Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Profane Direction Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Death Progression Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Iron Carving Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb10 hours ago
Sold: Graven Route Waystone (Tier 14) For: 2x Vaal Orb

My micro-loop (fast and cheap):

Buy/loot magic T14 Waystones.

Alch → instant rare.

If it’s trash, Scour once and retry.

List any decent rolls; buyers snap them for mapping.

I’m not “tricked,” I’m just sharing what makes money. If you think removing Alchs would “change nothing,” cool—don’t use them. I will, because this turns cheap blues into consistent 2× Vaal sales with minimal time spent.

That's the same shit as buying something for an ex and scrapping it to sell the shards for 2ex

Congratulations.

Nobody should be doing this

"

staytuned2k#6008 เขียน:

That's the same shit as buying something for an ex and scrapping it to sell the shards for 2ex

Congratulations.

Nobody should be doing this

I botched it so hard GGG should hand me a unique: ‘Tabula Misrasa.’ My stash is crammed with them—open it and there’s a choir of Orbs of Alchemy chanting, ‘You fucked up.’

I’ve got so many Alchs that if they spike, my stash becomes a hedge fund

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